Come to the Stable (1949)

B
SDG

Fifteen years before Lilies of the Field told its tale
of the collision of Sidney Poitier’s good-humored Baptist
handyman with Lilia Skala’s strong-willed Mother Superior, and
the building project that occurs as a result, there was Come
to the Stable, which has a similar story about a group of
nuns with a vision for building something and the other people
who don’t necessarily share that vision but nevertheless become
involved in one way or another: the bishop, a local artist, a
reclusive composer, even an underworld figure.

Artistic/Entertainment Value

Moral/Spiritual Value

Age Appropriateness

MPAA Rating

Caveat Spectator

Come to the
Stable, which received seven Academy Award nominations, is
more conventional, more sentimental, and more pious than
Lilies of the Field,
which won its Oscar (Poitier’s Best Actor); it’s not as
interesting a film, but has its own gentle charm.

Whereas the crafty Mother Maria in Lilies shrewdly
hides her thoughts and intentions behind a convenient language
barrier, in Come to the Stable Sister Margaret (Loretta
Young) and Sister Scholastica (Celeste Holm) act out of genuine
naivete and holy innocence, tackling seemingly insurmountable
problems with a directness disconcerting to anyone who happens to
be in their way. Sometimes this approach is exactly the right
one, and they get their needed "miracle"; but other times they
end up with egg on their faces, and look credulous and silly. Is
God perhaps testing their faith, or merely teaching them a lesson
in being realistic? Perhaps both.

The bishop (Basil Ruysdael) is a decent enough chap,
sympathetic to the sisters’ mission but daunted by the practical
difficulties. As their cause goes forward, however, he begins to
suspect that what’s driving them is an irresistible force before
which there is no known immovable object: "There hasn’t been for
2000 years."

Although the main characters are Sister Margaret and Sister
Scholastica, the protagonist is Robert Mason (Hugh Marlowe), the
unflaggingly courteous but reclusive songwriter who doesn’t want
a hospital built in his backyard, yet feels obligated to extend
every courtesy to the sisters — which they cheerfully accept, and
then some. Mason is the character easiest to identify with, the
straight man who bridges the gap between the audience and the
otherworldly nuns; and it’s fun to watch him trying to figure out
how to relate to these sweet and cheerful but trying neighbors.
(In a running joke, he can never remember Sister Scholastica’s
name; a gag my wife and I found particularly amusing because we
had no trouble with "Scholastica" but couldn’t remember
Margaret!)

Mason is also the character who must be changed somehow by the
end of the story, and whose change will figure prominently in the
resolution of the story. Dooley Wilson (Casablanca’s
beloved Sam) has an amusing role as Anthony, who works for Mason
but furtively undermines his employer’s interests.

This is sweet, pious entertainment of a sort that "they don’t
make like that anymore." With its Bethlehem, CT setting and
Nativity themes and imagery, it makes uplifting Christmas
viewing.